THE NEW YOR.KER. Long. Though the gags aren't fresh, Dixon knows how to construct them. With a director who had an appetite for broad comedy, this script might have been turned into a movie that had something like the self-mocking giddi- ness of Robert Zemeckis's "Romanc- ing the Stone." With Hiller in charge, much of the dialogue turns into squawking, and the tiresome escapades-scrambling through airports and clutching at the sides of mountains-take all his atten- tion. He leaves the promising lesser characters to wither away. Robert Prosky's role, as the famed Russian acting teacher that both women study with, doesn't have a comic payoff; George Carlin appears, in flower-child Indian drag, as a leftover sixties burn- out who lives on a reservation, but he doesn't do anything special-it's just supposed to be funny that he's up there in the movie. Peter Coyote stands out as the smoothie-eligible, solvent, and heterosexual-who is both women's dream lover come to life; he gives a polished and wily performance. But that's only in the first section; then he gets lost in the noise. And though the two women go through the motions of becoming devoted to each other they're not much of a team: they don't bring out anything in each other. Hiller de- pends on Midler to pump sass and energy into the picture; that's better than nothing, but it's not enough. And Hiller avidly touches the audience's soft spots. Midler's gutsy broad is shown to be all heart, and to be thin- skinned. The most exuberant woman lech we've got is reduced to being a conventional good girl. The audience whoops it up; the au- dience loves this cartoon version of Bette Midler. In the Paul Brick- man-Jonathan Demme "Citizens Band," which came out ten years ago, two contrasting women (softheaded, gaga Ann Wedgeworth and hard-bit- ten Marcia Rodd) weren't just having affairs with the same man, they were married to him, and each of them had kids by him. That picture had the idiosyncratic, loose-screw American humor that this picture lacks, but it didn't cue people when to laugh. It was a commercial flop, of course. The wide movie audience appears to resent American pictures that aren't in main- stream style. In some angry, instinc- tive way, the audience seems to be saying of the artIsts, "How do they dare to be different!" The rewards for not being different have never been higher. -PAULINE KAEL ; 0/' (\ .';-'/V . t..v. . ;." " .. \,,, . . " " . r. · . . ,.,,, , . " ( ", \. ,.. .): \ - t. a.. . . r \ .\-). C, . t' :t') , .) \. l' .. ., ). \, ' , , l , . .) . SPEND YOUR WEEKEND à la carte. Create your own get- away weekend at the Hotel Meridien in the heart of historic Boston. Our $110 price for a single or double occupancy mcludes your lux- uriously appomted room, use of our sky- lit swimming pool and health club, plus free parking after 6pm on Fridays. \... 113 L Ask about Le Weekend in Paris or Le Weekend 250 FranklIn St., Boston. Rate subject to availability Rate not apphcable to groups. Tax not included. Reservabons: 617-451-1900 800-543-4300 :& MERIDIEN / BOSTON <- The Qualit y Alternative to High-Cost Inflatable Boats! Just one o . roan)' qua"t)' is \n \atab\e bOa ,. .;.'./.."*:.$ .' u , ...0,. .., -? ",. : >.. . . .: -.........:: ... Why pay $600, $1000 or more for an inflatable boat? Sea Eagle inflatable boats last for years go almost anywhere and cost as little as $60. Canoes dinghies, motorboats for fishing, camp- Ing, river running, skin-diving and much, much more. Write or phone for · FREE COLOR CATALOG! I!!I!!!! I!!!! I!!M!! I I!!! rII .. # --- A dIvISIOn 01 Harnson-Hoge Industries loe '" "- ^'v "<., , .,. '" '\ :' , 'l<.. /" } :.# ' ..... '}. ?- : .1-; > J # -:....- Our new Sea Eagle 8H with improved · 6-point motormount · Holds 4 adults/950 Ibs. · 3 hp capacity · Can be rowed, motored or sailed Phone: 516-724-8900 8:30 AM-4:30 PM, Mon.-Fn , EST Sea Eagle, Dept. NY72B P.O. Box 944, Smithtown, NY 11787 o Send me FREE color catalog! name address city state Zip